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Akal Takhat - Undying Throne

Akal means undying, and Takhat means throne. By the definition Guru
Hargobind Ji gave it, Akal Takhat is a throne that cannot be destroyed.
It is the highest earthly authority for all Sikhs. The Akal Takhat
sits across from the Harimandir Sahib at a slight angle to show the
humility a political authority should have towards a spiritual
authority.

Transcribed Lectures of the Siri Singh Sahib

New Mexico, July 1, 1984

It is important to understand how this
world works. The rotation of this little planet has been investigated
many times, yet the mystery still remains unsolved. The earth rotates
on its axis as it revolves in its orbit around the sun. What keeps it
rotating on its axis? What keeps it in its orbit? Why is it that no
accident occurs?

It
is my understanding that there is no such thing as an accident. I
classify accidents as initial actions. Accidents are initial actions
because their spontaneous occurrence is the first event in a new and
unforeseen direction. The initial action is the pivot on which the
energy changes its focus away from what it had been up to the moment
preceding the so-called accident. These initial actions have altered
the life of nations, altered the life of communities, and transformed
the lives of the people.

War of Identity

I agree one hundred percent that we as
Sikhs have been hit. We have been hit harshly and the times are very
hard. But we are fortunate that we have been hit so harshly. This is an
initial actions. It is the first step which had to be taken to turn our
energy towards ourselves as Sikhs. Now we will obey our Guru, and we
will find the God within ourselves.

If this situation in India could happen -
and it has happened - then it must be the will of God because God is
everything. All things come from God and all things go to God. Now we
find ourselves under siege. Eleven million Sikhs are under siege. It is
a war of identity.

If we in the West can effectively
demonstrate that this is a matter of human identity, the entire West
will be with us. We need to bring the West to understand that this is a
war of identity, pure and simple. We need the West to understand that
these Sikh people who believe in God and love God and feel God within
them are being forced to defend their identity, to fight for their
identity. Do you understand what it will give us to convey that
understanding? It will give us the greatest bliss and fulfillment. We
will never have an identity crisis. This is true because we cannot
speak of our identity without realizing it.

It is a fact of life that when we speak
about our identity, we set identity. It is the power of the Word. The
Word is the greatest power. What is Siri Guru Granth Sahib to which we
bow? Siri Guru Granth Sahib just talks about God, and by reading it we
become God. We become godly people. Guru Gobind Singh gave us the Word
of Khalsa. He gave us the identity to live to the purity of Khalsa.
Purity cannot die. Purity knows no death. Khalsa shall know no death.
It will live forever. Therefore, there shall be 960 million Khalsa.
What a miracle that will be.

Martyrdom of Akal TakhatNew Mexico, July 1, 1984

There is an initial action that has taken
place to force us to come to our identity of Khalsa. That initial
action was performed by Akal Takhat. Akal Takhat has reached its own
martyrdom. Nobody could destroy Akal Takhat. I don't believe anybody
could. If it was possible, then it could have happened many times
before. Akal Takhat, the throne of the imperial as well as the divine
power, has come to question if we are worthy to keep it. Are we worthy
to keep it ever in its glory or not? This is a very internal question.
It cannot be answered emotionally. It has nothing to do with sentiments
and commotion. It asks a simple question.

A takhat, a throne, rules. It is a crown
of rulership, divine as well as earthly, and when the rulership comes
under destruction, it asks me a question. It will ask you a question.
It should ask the entire humanity, "What went wrong?" Now the time has
come to correct what went wrong.

Every Part of the World Shares Our PainNew Mexico, July 1, 1984

Recently, I received a letter from an
ordinary American woman. She has absolutely no Khalsa relative nor any
other relationship to Khalsa. She has written me that what has happened
in the last two weeks is so devastating that she would like to give her
condolences and share with me the pain which we as a nation are
experiencing.

I say that it is not only the pain we are
all having now, it is the pain which will be shared by everyone.
Through every newspaper, every radio station, every television, every
media, every person will share our pain. If we can continue sharing
this pain with the world at large, with the free world, then we will
carry the day.

It is not a time to become emotional. It
is not a time to become angry. It is a time to act. Guru has said that
by the jap of Har (repetition of God's Name), all darkness leaves and
light spreads. We are doing it by chanting:

Aap sahaaee hoaa,Sache daa sachaa dhoaa.Har, har, har.

This is the Guru's bani. We have seen it
work and it is true to us. All the people must meditate on God with the
Word of the Guru.

Awakening Through SacrificeNew Mexico, July 1, 1984

This is the greatest sacrifice that has
been made in the history of our lives. Akal Takhat has offered itself
as a sacrifice. To understand this, you have to believe in the identity
of the Akal Takhat. People have been dying, our history is full of it.
We will die too. Dying is as easy as pulling a tooth. One Novacain
injection and then there's no pain.

I'm not talking about individual dying.
In the history of our universe, this is the first time a place with the
identity of rulership of the ether and of the earth, mortal and
immortal, a central source of that energy, that psyche, that nucleus,
has sacrificed itself. This is not an unimportant thing for the
humanity. It is very important. The earth shall shake. Events will
come. This is the greatest sacrifice. This is the first time Akal
Takhat as an identity, as a ruling identity of the Khalsa, has
sacrificed itself so that the mankind can live. It will bring the
humanity to an understanding.

If
Jesus had not gone on the cross and forgiven those who put them there,
he would not have been Jesus the Christ. He would have been just Jesus,
like any other. But he established himself as Christ when he looked and
said, "If this cup can pass, fine, if not I'll accept Thy Will. Forgive
them. They do not know what they do."

We must show that forgiveness, and act
powerfully. Either we believe Guru is with us or we don't believe Guru
is with us. If we believe Guru is with us, and Guru guides us, then we
are not without leadership. There is nobody, nobody who can be my
leader. No Sikh is going to accept the leadership of any man. We have
accepted once and for all the leadership of the Siri Guru Granth.
Therefore, I can explain to you in very clear consciousness that we
shall not only win, but we will carry the day with us.

I agree we are slow. We are slow, but we
are conscious. We are growing, and the growing bud has the power. Once
a rosebud came between two marble bricks. You know that marble is a
pretty hard stone, but when the bud wanted to open, it cracked the
marble bricks. To open the bud takes the power of God, and there is
nothing in the elements of the earth which is powerful enough to stop
the bud from opening.

Guru Arjun gave the sacrifice; we became
victorious. Guru Teg Bahadur gave the sacrifice; we became victorious.
Guru Gobind Singh and his entire family gave the sacrifice, and we
became victorious. Today our Akal Takhat has given the sacrifice; we
shall not lose!

I have a difference of opinion from
everybody because I have no opinion of my own. I have a view of things.
This view is as truthful to me as I am to myself. I am crying. I'm in
pain, not for myself, but for those who have done this act. Akal Takhat
has its own identity and Akal Takhat has given its own sacrifice. Guru
Teg Bahadur had his own identity and Guru Teg Bahadur gave his own
sacrifice. As a Sikh I have no right to question it. I'm not going to
question why Akal Takhat did what Akal Takhat did. If I question, then
I am not a Sikh of the Guru. I think my discipline is enough that I
shall not question. I know that if Akal Takhat has chosen to give its
sacrifice, then it must be required.

Guru Arjun could have given in and the
matter would have ended. If Guru Arjun chose to sacrifice and explained
his sacrifice to Mian Mir, I have learned from it. Guru Teg Bahadur
chose to sacrifice, and he told the entire world. I learned from that.
If Guru Gobind Singh gave his sacrifice and Guru Gobind Singh's sons
gave their sacrifice, I learned from those. If my Akal Takhat has given
a sacrifice, then I am learning from it also.

I'm neither crediting nor discrediting
anybody who was there. Akal Takhat wanted, at this moment, to awaken
the Khalsa nation and this nation could not have come out of that sleep
by any other means than through the sacrifice of Akal Takhat. This
nation would not have been awakened by any other sacrifice but the end
of the Akhand Jotee in Harimander. This head of mine belongs to the
Guru; therefore, this head must think and work for the Guru.

Akal Takhat has totally sacrificed
itself. I would like you to share with me something which I have been
sharing all along. Akal Takhat has its own independent sovereign
identity. Akal Takhat had to sacrifice itself to awaken these Sikhs.
There was no other way.

Do you really think that people who have
never gotten up in the morning, have never taken a cold shower and
never chanted Japji in their whole lives could have been awakened by
anything other than Akal Takhat's own sacrifice? I don't believe that
anything other than the sacrifice of the Akal Takhat could do it. Now
that sacrifice has been done. The nation will wake up. It will rise in
spirit; it will win. You talk about Khalistan, Pakistan, this-stan,
that-stan. I'll call it "Dhunistan." The whole world is going to come
under it. It is the greatest sacrifice ever made. It must bring the
greatest positive result that could ever happen.

Out of my pain, I have been praying
whenever I go to Gurdwara. Whenever I go to some houses, I have nothing
to share because there is liquor and chicken and this and that. Through
just seeing this impurity in tons and tons I would pray every morning,
"Guru Ji, if there will be no purity, there will be no Khalsa. Do
something!" I think that what Guru has done is to ask Akal Takhat to go
ahead now and sacrifice. I think the sacrifice is very timely. It will
just awaken every sleeping soul.

If you tell a Sikh that Akal Takhat has
sacrificed itself he will say that it is not true. That the Indian
government sent the army there and blew up the Akal Takhat. I say that
Aurangzeb sent the army and beheaded Guru Teg Bahadur. What is the
difference? It couldn't be done by the police. It couldn't be done by a
paramilitary force. That is the history. That is a fact.

Rajkarega KhalsaNew Mexico, July 1, 1984

So what will come out of this sacrifice?
It will be absolutely great. Khalsa shall triumph and Guru Gobind
Singh's words shall come true!

"Malech Khaalsaa hosee naasPanth Khaalsaa hosee parkaash."

"Unbelieveing Khalsa will be destroyed,The believers will shine again."

This is what I saw, this is what I know,
and this is what I am sharing with you. Guru has told me to be with you
and to share with you. It is the historical sacrifice of all
sacrifices. The Akal Takhat has sacrificed itself to awaken the Khalsa.
Now you can commonly believe and speak and truthfully think:

The rule of Khalsa is to be.The disobedient ones will not remain.All those who come together at the Guru's feet.Those dear ones shall be protected.

There are hundreds and thousands of aakee
(rebels). Those aakee have to come back into the form. That is why Akal
Takhat was sacrificed. This greatest sacrifice under the Will of God
has been made to save the planet, to save the humanity, and to bring
peace, away from the destruction. It is a point of view, it is a
statement, it is a reason, fine. I say it is a fact, fine. You can call
it a lie. That's okay. As it is written above, so it shall be done
below.

Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Akal Takhat
July 6th 1987

The word is "akal" and what we are celebrating today is in memory of the Akal Takhat.

Takhat means "Tirath". Tirath means that which has the base and which ultimately means sovereign. Takhat means throne. Throne was a place which was thrown away from God. So word is Akal Takhat. Timelessness. Throne of timelessness.

Depressed, emotional values and hopeless and useless confinement. These
are the American values given to me today. In some people their egos
and their emotions get together to the extent that they are worse than
animals; they are beasts. When creativity becomes destructive, man is
then lower than the animal. Because in the animal, sex is only
controlled by the environmental time, and that is when the animal is in
heat and then only they can create a sex. But humans have a direction,
a mental direction, and have absolutely no time and space. Therefore
the human creativity is based on a mental direction, not on time. So
as a creature we have been given timelessness to begin with, as a
matter of biological science, as a fundamental creativity in our
consciousness. Barring that, our biological and our physical
circumstances have been ingrained in timelessness rather than the
animal. That's the difference. That's why we are considered superior
and that the man and woman are created in a superiority of God's image.
So basically, when we have an instinct to be distinct from that what is
not and what is, it is called commitment and character and
consciousness and intelligence.

So when the magnetic psyche conflicts
with the time, energy and containment of the magnetic psyche into the
relevancy of that creativity, it stimulates the entire organism into
the being and the creative self is so creative that the intelligence
and the discipline is not at that moment in a position to beat out the
impulsiveness. Then the human mind becomes destructive, insensitive and
very active and it very, very effectively creates a hysteria of
expelling the energy and commotional and neurotic satisfaction. This is
nothing but an interlock of the most beautiful human energy into
lower-than-animal nature. It's called "beast" in the Western language - the beast which is forceful and effectively an onslaught of damage.

So what I'm explaining here today is
that in Sikh Dharma we have a place we call Akal Takhat. It is the
nerve center of the planet's psyche. It is the fundamental focal point
of the planet's psyche and its sovereignty. It is a throne of
timelessness.

All of our life we meditate to attach ourself to earth, deeper and
deeper. And when we have to quit the body, this shell drops. All our
other nine bodies are so interwoven that we cannot leave this earth.

Millions die but they cannot leave the magnetic field of this
earth. Their souls cannot leave the magnetic field of the earth which
a human in an airplane can bang right through. It is a most shocking
miracle to surprisingly see it. A human with absolutely no meditative
power can sit in a human-made airplane and bang through the magnetic
field of the earth. But the soul cannot, because there's no penetrating
creative spirit left. There's no mental attachment or mental projection
to create us with a basic Infinity when it was in physical being.

So to uplift that that
characteristic... uplift that being... Guru Hargobind found out this
nerve center, this focal point of the planet's psyche and built a
throne for the entire mankind. And he made the Sikhs the servants and
the guardians of it. We as Sikhs don't own that Takhat. We serve that
Takhat. We are the guardians of that Takhat. And our job and our
devotion and our dedication to that Takhat is that of a man of God, not
of a particular religion, but of a man or woman of reality who shall
serve and guard that Takhat - the Akal Takhat - the throne of
timelessness.

Exactly so, in the world of karma, to
which you all belong, you can be timeless. When you focus and project
and understand the inner being of the situation whether Mahatma Ghandi
was real or non-real, you'll find the peace movement gave timelessness
to him. In the history of the universe he is one man who, upon his
death, all the flags of all the countries flew at half-mast. Why?
Because basically in the inner being of the being for the time being or
all the time, there's one desire to live in harmony, to live in peace,
live in tranquility, to understand. Because that is the creative nature
of God. And if you do not know the creative nature of God, you can
never know the ultimate nature of God. Therefore a woman who does not
know the creative nature of the man shall always be divorced and kicked
out. If Prakirti does not know the fundamental of the Purkha,
combination of union will never take place. It will be only a
commotional, neurotic relationship.

So long you do not admire and understand the timelessness of the
teacher, you can never understand to be a timeless student. As long as
this intercourse of understanding and cohabition of the psyche does not
understand, there shall be duality and doubt. And whenever there's a
duality and doubt, unisonness will not exist.

So the very respectful reverence and understanding between a human of
today and human of yesterday which can give you the experience of
tomorrow, so that tomorrow you don't have to learn the hard way, so
that the sophisticated softness of your life can penetrate your few
miles of life further in peace and tranquility and harmony, does not
exist. You all learn through hardness. And when you learn through the
hardness of time and space, your entire sensitivity becomes bitter.
That's why you're all bitter. You are the most beautiful apple of God,
but you have worms in you.

So that is why Guru Hargobind made the Akal Takhat. A throne of
timelessness in which beauty in its own duty becomes the infinity
through consciousness and through experience. Where man should hesitate
and will hesitate to deceive his tomorrow. I don't think you do
anything wrong or rotten. I think you are the emeralds, the "rattans".
You're most beautiful. What you do is very funny. You betray your
tomorrow, and you are angry at your today, and you abuse your
yesterday. And then you want to be respected? Now how can that be?

Mankind went through that era when man and his dignity, man and his
self-respect, man and his creativity was just considered nothing. India
was ruled by the Mogul empire then, and the orders were, "If a human
beings sits on a place higher than the emperor by two and a half feet,
his head should be chopped off or he should be picked up for meat to be
fed to the emperor's game." That was the punishment. You became meat
for the emperor's game. When you are for the emperor's game, you were
taken to a prison where you were incarcerated and then one morning you
were bled, and your blood was given to the game and your meat was
chopped off to be eaten. All that was left of you was a dead body for
the animals to tear apart.

At that moment, Guru Hargobind found this focal point of energy,
the nerve center of the psyche of this planet. In the longitude and
latitude he found a spot - that spot which was the hub of temporal and
spiritual foundation of psyche - and he built a throne there. And he
said, "It is thrown from the timelessness. So it is called Akal
Takhat." "Taa-khat". "Taa" means the base, the fundamental. "Khat" means the line. So it means the fundamental baseline of that Infinity, of that timelessness. That's why it is called Akal Takhat. That is spirituality.

Guru Nanak is not here in his
physical body, as you and I can see. But we can feel him, we can
experience him, we can understand him, we can listen to him, we can
know him, we can walk by his sayings, we can produce ourselves to be
like him. That is the timelessness. That is the Akal. And the seal of
this Akal Takhat says, "Akal Sahai." Let the timelessness support you.

Out of the circle of 8.4 million lifecycles, there's one spot which
does not subject itself to timelessness. And it does not subject itself
to zigzags. It subjects itself to elevation. And that soul which
commands that elevation is subjected to enjoy the sovereignty of that
timelessness of the Akal Takhat. And that is the pure one, that is the
Khalsa. Therefore the Akal Takaht dominates a domain of simple purity
in Infinity. It doesn't belong to Sikhs. They have the privilege to
serve it. It does not belong to the Khalsa. They have the privilege to
guard it.

Humanity doesn't own it. It is owned by the owner of its own Self,
which is timelessness. And that is Para-Parbrahm Parmatma. Symbolically
they destroyed a building and they declared their victory in doing so.
But they caused their own defeat here and hereafter forever. And the
entire Indian community which is the land of the Gurus, sages and
saints, avtars, blessed ones, complete ones, graceful ones, will now
die slowly.

Because when there's a purity to the
extent of Infinity and in it's own sovereignty, and that is destroyed,
when the aorta is cut, man cannot live. When the psyche is destroyed,
humanity cannot exist. And what will happen, time will record. It will
be a part of history. We in America who are in love with the Guru's
house, who are trying to understand the reality of our purpose of our
human life, who understand timelessness, may not experience it, may not
practice it, or may be intending to walk on that path. We have the
privilege today to sit here in the Guru's Court to celebrate the
memory, to commemorate the memory. Not in sadness and not in anger, but
in meditation and prayer. And to remember that Akal Takhat is in our
hearts. We have come here today to bow our heads to that grace, that
light, that Infinity, that purity, that truthfulness which is in our
heart. And we have come to bow our physical head.

People say if the Akal Takhat is the throne of timelessness, why
did it get destroyed? No, it didn't get destroyed. It sacrificed
itself. It sacrificed itself as Guru Arjan did.

There is nothing which can be created in timelessness without
sacrifice. That is the Infinite law. And at this time, to save the
humanity and the people and to awaken their dead souls, the Akal Takhat
sacrificed itself.

Look at this! The government tried to inject its B-complex
in everything else and build it up and raised it. The resurrection took
place. It again got destroyed by those who were supposed to serve and
guard it. It got raised all right - not with that purity and prayer --
but with money and with power. Maya. In the true sense it was
understood how a building can have a personality to inject and project
a reality which only a man with consciousness can understand. It is not
for the stone-heads.

And we who are sitting thousands and thousands of miles away, have
created a long infinite link. And with that link we live and we
celebrate. And we commemorate. And we have the understanding.

I pay my homage to this place of Infinite Divinity in the name of
the entire humanity with peace and tranquility, and ask you all to do
the same. Irrespective of what your faith is, what your color is, what
your caste is, what your creed is, what your religion is, what your
belief is, what your dimension is, what your size is, what your
nationality is or what your reality is. But if you have a sense of the
aorta, to understand what timelessness and sovereignty mean, then you
can start right now paying your homage and respectfully attaching
yourself to the very lotus feet of the One who gave us the Akal Takhat.

Hargobind... "the Infinite God which sustains us all."
That is the literal meaning of "Hargobind"... Guru Hargobind, who took
us from the bondage of insanity, commotionalism, neurosis and
egotistical attitude and gave us something which is most beautiful in
the entire world, for all to remember to be, to visit, to play, to have
thought of, to have a memory of, or to look forward to seeing.

It is my privilege today to pay my individual personal homage and
respects, and on behalf of all of you, on behalf of the entire nation
of Americans, on behalf of every individual American who is aware and
unaware, on behalf of all the people in the world who are conscious and
unconscious, pay homage to the coming awakening. Because the Age of
Aquarius is on its way and the resurrection of the focal point in the
lotus feet of God Itself has to be completed

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh!

Talk
given by the Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji,
the Chief Religious Authority for Sikh Dharma International on July 1,
1984 in Espanola, New Mexico.